THE DOMESDAY SURVEY preferable to treat as a whole a particularly difficult group of manors in the north-west of the county. The place-names in question are Welle, Welei, Wilei, Wilie, Welge, Wilge, and Wlwenewiche. Of these ' Welle,' which Ilbert added as sheriff to Lilley, is clearly Well(bury) in Hitchin to the east of Lilley Hoo. ' Welge ' or ' Wilge ' softened into ' Welewe ' and then developed into ' Welwyn.' As to ' Wilie,' which was also situate in Broadwater Hundred, it finally developed into ' Willian.' The name of ' Wlwenewiche ' deserves special attention because it seems to be one of those that have now disappeared. In a return of 1303 we read, under ' Burleye ' : ' Laurencius de Brok tenet in Burnleye et in Wollenwich quartam partem unius feodi militis de here- dibus Philippi Burnel.' * The name italicized was clearly the 'Wlwene- wiche ' of Domesday, where Robert Gernon was a holder, for Philip Burnel was the heir of that great bishop Burnel who bought land so largely of the Gernon co-heirs. Moreover, as this return distinguishes
- Wollenwich ' from ' Welewe ' (Welwyn) and ' Wilien ' (Willian) in
the same Hundred, it is clear that the ' Wluenewic ' of two charters in the British Museum is not, as imagined in its Manuscript department, merely a form of Willian. 8 Lastly I find in a charter of confirmation granted by Henry II. to St. Albans mention of land at ' Wulfinewich ' which is clearly the same place. 3 The name, therefore, can be traced from Domesday, through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries down to 1303. After this it disappears, for Brok's quarter fee is entered only as ' in Borley ' in a return of I346. 4 It seems to me possible that this quarter fee may have included the manor of Broks in Stevenage, which took its name from the above Laurence and his heirs. But even the four places that we have now distinguished may not exhaust the equivalents of the Domesday place-names in question. When Bernard de Baliol who was holding much of the Crown estate in Hitchin and its neighbourhood granted to the Templars temp. Stephen the lands at Dinsley which thus came to be known as Temple Dinsley, he described them as being at ' Wedelee.' 6 This name is very suggestive of that ' Welei ' which Domesday surveys next to Hitchin itself (fo. 132^). Another name presenting difficulty is that of' Scelve,' ' Scelva,' or
- Escelveia,' as it appears in the three entries relating to it. This place is
1 feudal Aids (1901) II, 430. We have not the advantage of the editor's opinion on the locality for the name is not identified or even indexed. 8 Index to the Charters and Rolls in the Department of Manuscripts (1900) I, 816. I have examined both these charters (Harl. 45, B. i and Add. 1 5467), which are assigned to the reign of Henry III., and find that one of them speaks of the garden of Richard de Argentein, which implies that 'Wluenewic' was in immediate proximity to Wymondley. 3 Monasticon, II. 229. Mr. Page finds the place as ' Wlvennewike ' in fines of 10 Ric. I and 4 John. 4 Feudal Aids, II. 436. I am by no means satisfied that the editor is right in identifying this ' Borley,' in Broadwater Hundred with ' Barley ' in Edwinstree Hundred, which was far away in the north-east of the county. The latter place is ' Berlai ' in Domesday and occurs in medieval documents as ' Berlai,' ' Berleia,' ' Berlee,' etc. The ' Borley ' or ' Burleye ' in Broadwater Hundred was, I believe, Burleigh by Knebworth. 6 Cott. MS. Nero E. vi. fo. (new) 125, (old) 118. 297
